Woo the weathers getting niceeee! Ahem, anyway. Thank you all for reading this far, i hope you like where it's heading. Bit of action in this chappy, it's not a major fight scene though so it's not hugely important.

Anyways, enjoy!

"Shikamaru, do you think that we'd be able to throw together a successful attack unit with the shinobi we have with us?"

Most of the rookie 9 and the adults were sat around the crumpling dinner table discussing any and all possibilities in overcoming Orochimaru's and launching a successful counter attack. Shikamaru, being the tactical genius had been dragged to the meeting in hopes of him thinking up a plan that they could follow.

"Though we do not have quantity, with the shinobi we do have; we most defiantly have quality. As troublesome as it would be I believe that once all injuries are fully healed and we make sure that this place is safe to stay at, I think that we could indeed launch a successful counter attack on the snake's forces."

Shikamaru sighed, why did he have to be the damn genius? He had done enough work just getting out of Konoha alive, all he wanted to do was have some alone time with Temari and the clouds present outside.

"And it wouldn't only have been the leaf and Suna to loose forces, Orochimaru must have lost as many, if not more."

Jiraiya nodded, he knew the Snake had sheer numbers, but most of his shinobi were not up to the standards of the Leaf shinobi, or Suna's for that matter. He just hoped that he could get in contact with Tsunade sometime soon, the bigger the counter attack, the more effective it would be on diminishing what's left of the treacherous snake's forces.

xx-xx-xx

As Hinata did a count of heads, ready to begin some light training with the children, she felt her heart plummet to her stomach. Had she counted wrong? No. They were one short. A frown formed on her pale face, Akemi was nowhere to be seen. She glanced over to Naruto who had also noticed their predicement, but he plastered a grin on his face as he turned back to the children.

"Alright! Listen up! I want you guys to go over to those training stumps and show us your best taijutsu!"

As they raced off to get a stump, they didn't notice Naruto make two shadow clones, one that looked exactly like him, and the other exactly like Hinata.

"Hinata, lets go."

Echoes of the childrens punches and kicks were the last sounds they heard as they raced off in different directions, both hoping their worries were misguided, and that she had simply wandered off to another room while the boys were having their faces scrubbed.

Hinata was starting to get worried, where could she have gone? This was all her fault; she should have watched her more carefully. Tears started to form in her pale eyes, if anything happened to Akemi she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. Shaking her head clear of those thoughts, she activated her byakugan and continued searching. Naruto frowned, he had already made several more clones who were helping him and Hinata in the search but they still hadn't found her. Naruto's eyes widened and he ran down the hall to where Hinata had gone.

"Hinata-chan!"

Hinata twirled around mid-step in response to her name, eyes wide and hands clenched at her sides. Naruto came skidding to a halt in front of her with worry alight in his eyes.

"Hina-chan, what if she went outside?"

Hinata's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, what if she had gone outside? What if she had gone outside the gates? Naruto interrupted her as she berated herself for letting Akemi out of her sight.

"C'mon, I'll make more clones."

Naruto half pulled her down the curved staircase towards the main door by her hand, hoping that Akemi was only outside the house and not outside the gates.

"L-let me go!"

Akemi at that moment in time was being hung upside down while her attacker studied her features carefully.

"Hn, she's one of the brats that blonde haired kid was protecting."

The voice belonged to a man dressed in ninja attire suitable for an ANBU; he also wore a mask much like Kakashi's to hide his features and the scars found upon his face. The person he was talking to stood at least a foot smaller, since the man who had just spoke was easily 6ft; the smaller man also wore ninja attire though not to the extent of his comrade. His dress was simple, with plain black and grey colouring that matched his dark brown eyes and dirty black hair. The smaller man nodded to the statement of his partner as he stared in to the forestry surrounding the small clearing in which they had found the girl picking flowers.

"No doubt someone will come looking for her from their little group."

That said he could hear voices calling out a name he guessed must be the little girls, turning to his comrade with a disturbing smirk on his face. The shouts stopped suddenly, the man guessed that the people coming simply had good sensing abilities. He didn't plan on Hinata having the byakugan, and being able to see him and his partner easily through the foilage.

"Well, it looks like we don't have to wait long."

With that said the two heard the distinct rustling of foliage slightly to their right, the larger man pulled Akemi to him with a dirty hand placed firmly around her mouth to stop her from making any sound. Naruto and Hinata burst on to the scene, Hinata with her Byakugan active and Naruto with a grim expression on his usually smiling face. To Naruto's surprise it was Hinata who spoke first.

"Let her go."

It wasn't the fact that she hadn't stuttered once that surprised Naruto, it was the harsh tone to her voice, commanding instead of asking.

"Just who we were looking for the blonde brat. And we even got ourselves a fine little Kunoichi as well, must be our lucky day."

The large mans fist shot out just to his left, dispersing a single Naruto clone, at the same time the shorter shinobi sent several kunai and shuriken in to the bushes behind them. Puffs of smoke quickly followed the dissappearence of the arsenal of projectiles, signalling that the rest of Naruto's clones had been dispersed.

Hinata frowned, a rare expression to be seen on the petite girls face but it was there and fierce at that. Naruto gripped his kunai tighter and stared down the two in front of him, who were they? Naruto spoke her thoughts.

"Who are you? And why are you here?"

"Who we are is none of your business boy; we have come for revenge since by some fluke you were able to defeat our brother and his comrades."

The smaller mans voice sounded like nails on a chalk board to both Hinata and Naruto, though it seemed to suit the man's demeanour perfectly. Naruto cursed himself, he had not meditated at all since they had arrived so he could not use his Chakra charge that he had created while training with Jiraiya. His Chakra charge jutsu relied on him meditating and putting a large quantity of his chakra in to the seals situated on his forearms. He had made this technique when he had been forced to study seals under Jiraiya, though he had abnormal amounts of chakra already, the extra boost he got from the jutsu could help him overwhelm his enemies. Once activated he would attain a chakra shield that could protect him from intense heat, he had made it that way as he established that he was useless at water jutsu's and also that Sasuke used fire jutsu's a lot during his fights. He had created this jutsu to help bring back Sasuke, being able to fight him without his Katon jutsu's affecting him would have been a great advantage. This jutsu also boosted his chakra to enormous levels; it depended on how much chakra he had put in to the seal beforehand. Though there was undoubtedly a limit to how much he could gain from the seals, he had yet to reach it. He had worked hard on this jutsu, and he was proud of it. He had Jiraiya tattoo his seals on to his forearms and made them so they would only show when his blood was drawn across them. The tattoos were two simple rings going right around on each of his forearms just below his wrist.

He could not use it now; he hadn't had enough time to renew the chakra he had used in the last battle. This wouldn't stop him though, in a blink he disappeared and reappeared behind the larger man, placing a whirling rasengan in to the man's lower back. Disappearing again he reappeared slightly behind Hinata with Akemi in his arms.

Naruto's eyes widened as Hinata turned around with shocked eyes; Naruto was knocked out by a simple but well placed blow to the back of his neck. His body dropped to the side of a crying Akemi as the smaller man advanced on the girl. Before he could get to her though Hinata sent a round house kick to his face which he simply ducked under, in return he kicked Hinata away effortlessly in to several tree's. When he turned back to the girl he found that she had a kunai at the ready. He chuckled, these silly leaf ninja thought that they could do anything once they put their minds to it, he would show them. In a flash he was behind the young girl with said girl's kunai twirling mindlessly on his finger. Before he could advance on the girl Hinata appeared in front of Akemi with determination shining in her eyes, she knew this man was an amazing ninja having taken out Naruto in a blink of an eye. She knew she had little chance against the man, but she would not give up, for that was her nindo, her ninja way.

"Not my fault his concentration lacks, little girl."

With that comment, Hinata charged. After a short but fierce battle of plain taijutsu Hinata was breathing heavily and the man in front of her hardly seemed fazed. During the fight Akemi had made it a safe distance away, standing near a tree with fear etched on to her angelic face. The man smiled and within what seemed like less than half a second ten kunai were heading directly for Akemi whose eyes now portrayed her fear and feeling of uselessness. As she prepared herself for the inevitable she saw a flash of purple and felt no pain. Hinata was standing with her back to Akemi, she had managed to deflect three of the kunai but now three were deeply imbedded in her upper legs, two in her chest and the remaining two in her stomach. Hinata collapsed to a one knee stance with blood dripping from her mouth as she stared with hatred towards the man.

Naruto raised his head slightly, gathering his senses again. His eyes widened at the sight before him, Hinata was bleeding heavily in front of a cowering Akemi while their attack looked slightly roughed up but advancing towards the two. With speed that would make Lee jealous Naruto closed the distance between him and the attacker in a split second and aimed a fist to the side of his face. The man ducked under his attack only to be met with a knee to the gut, forcing the wind from his lungs. He staggered back as Naruto sent a barrage of punches and kicks towards him, frowning at the boy he knocked him backwards and pulled out his sword. Naruto noticed the man's stance had changed and the sword he now wielded, the sword itself was over 2ft long with a black handle that the man gripped tightly. With blinding speed the man closed the distance between them and swung at Naruto several times within a second. Naruto manages to dodge most of the attacks but his side was sliced open deeply, as he stumbled back the man drove the sword in to his stomach. Naruto stared at the sword as the man pulled it back and kicked him away, hitting a tree Naruto collapsed, panting for breath and holding his fresh wound.

As Hinata gained her footing she saw the man stab Naruto, her heart felt like it had dropped to her stomach as she watched him drop from the tree he had been kicked in to. Unconsciously her fists clenched at her sides as she stepped forwards. The man turned to face her and frowned, didn't these leaf shinobi know when they were outclassed?

"I see you have guts, but please tell me your name, I like to know who I kill."

Hinata slowed her haggard breathing to a steady pace and glared at the man while dropping in to her fighting stance, one that she had created in the two years Naruto had been away.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata, though you will not be killing me here. What might yours be?"

She would not stutter, she would not show any signs of weakness to the enemy, she would protect both Naruto and Akemi; her will of fire ignited.

"My name is Shin, and that my dear is all you get."

With that the man disappeared, only to be met with a chakra enhanced palm to his gut. His eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Hinata's eyes, they showed nothing but determination. As he launched himself away from Hinata while holding his stomach he was given little time to recuperate as Hinata was on him in an instant. After successfully landing several hits on the Shin's tenketsu's in his arm, his grip on his sword diminished. Gritting his teeth together he sent a flurry of punched as Hinata, only to have them blocked. Hinata took a deep breath as she summoned a large amount of chakra to her hands, looking shin dead in the eyes she jammed both of her arms towards him, sending a large amount of chakra flying towards him at incredible speeds. Shin tried to avoid the chakra only to be blocked by several kunai and shuriken that had been launched by Hinata with accuracy and speed learnt from many training sessions with Tenten, the mix of kunai and shuriken blocked off any exit that he could have made. The chakra blast hit him directly in his chest, sending him ricocheting in to, and through several trees. Grabbing Shin's sword, Hinata followed after him in to the foliage. As Shin finally made it to his feet, his eyes widened in horror as blood crept from the corner of his mouth. Behind him stood a panting Hinata holding his own sword that she had driven through his back and out the front of the centre of his chest. Looking down at his own blade he cursed himself for underestimating the girl. With that thought in mind he slipped in to darkness as Hinata let his body drop to the ground without grace.

"My brother seems to have gotten too cocky with you my dear, but do not worry, i shall finish what he started."

Hinata was shocked that the large man was still alive after having Naruto's rasengen clearly hit him, though the man was bleeding profusedly, which she hoped would give her an advantage. Having a jutsu in mind, she rushed forwards. As the bulky man launched a fist at her petite form, she simply jumped, using his arm as a stepping stone and landing just behind him. Before he could turn around completely, he heard the yell from the girl, obviously a jutsu.

"Hakke Hasangek!" (Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher)

The force of the blow sent the man flying towards an already damaged tree, an echoing crack rang out through the now silent clearing, signifying the break of the mans neck. Hinata let out a breath she didn't even realise she was holding, and made a mental note to thank Neji for teaching her that move. (It's the move he uses in shippuuden)

Hinata ran to Akemi who was hovering over Naruto's prone form. Reaching her destination she enveloped Akemi in to a tight motherly hug, as she let Akemi cry silently on to her shoulder she looked down at Naruto. She happily noted that he was breathing, gently releasing Akemi who was now only sobbing gently she smiled.

"C'mon we need to get back."

With that she hauled Naruto on to her back and took Akemi's hand, walking as fast as the added weight and her injuries would allow.

She didn't have to walk far, Naruto being knocked out had obviously dispersed the clones that he had left with the children, who in turn had contacted the other adults that they could find in the compound area.

Shikamaru and Temari were the first to greet them, as Shikamaru heft Naruto on to his back, Temari helped Hinata walk.

"You gave us all quite a fright; the kids told us that you had probably gone to find Akemi. We searched everywhere in town and were just getting a search team ready to fan out beyond Jiraiya's genjutsu barriers."

Nodding in understanding, Hinata made a mental note to have Jiraiya put up not only more genjutsu traps, but weaponry traps. True the men hadn't gotten through the main barrier of genjutsu, but they had gotten too close for comfort, much too close. Temari placed her down gently on the bed as Ino came in to help heal her wounds, smiling slightly at Temari as thanks Ino started her work on her friend.

That ok? i love to know what you think, so please review! Thank you to all who are frequent reviews, i love you :)

Marie x